Man jailed for seven years for killing nephew

A 58-year-old man who killed his nephew has been sentenced to seven years in jail. 

Ganesh Persaud Lall, who was formerly of Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara (WCD), was sentenced by Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry when he appeared before her on Monday at the Demerara High Court.

Last month, Lall decided to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter, despite having been initially charged with the deadly crime of murder.

However, the Judge postponed his sentence hearing until Monday in order to hear victim impact statements and probation and prison conduct reports.

DEAD: Rajendra Hira

He acknowledged that he killed 30-year-old Jason Rajendra Lall Hira between July 15 and 16, 2018. The case was prosecuted by State Counsel Joy Williams and State Counsel Caressa Henry. Khemraj Ramjattan, an attorney in law, represented the confessed killer.

Justice Sewnarine-Beharry mandated that the Prison Service deduct Lall’s time spent in pre-trial imprisonment from the seven-year custodial term.  

The Judge further mandated that Lall participate in programmes designed to support his rehabilitation.

Hira, Lall, and his grandparents had resided at Anna Catherina. 

Hira was known to regularly demand money from his grandparents (Lall’s parents), in order to support his smoking of marijuana and binge drinking habits, as was disclosed during Lall’s sentencing hearing.

And whenever they refused to give him money, he would verbally and physically abuse them.

In his address to the court, Lall said that on July 15, 2018, his nephew arrived home late and that he heard him arguing with his grandparents for money. Lall said that because of coming to his parents’ defence, he got into an altercation with his nephew and strangled him.

Hira’s grandmother found him dead in their bathroom sometime about six in the morning the next day. According to the police, his neck bore marks of violence. His cause of death was listed asphyxiation caused by compression injuries to the neck.

According to court records, Hira was arrested for stalking women while residing in the United States of America (USA). He was consequently compelled to go back to Guyana.

Lall’s family members, meanwhile, told the court through impact statements that they had forgiven him for the regrettable event that broke their family up.

They admitted that they did not like Hira’s lifestyle of delinquency and that they tried to help him, but he refused to check into a rehab centre. 

In her testimony, Hira’s mother said that her now-deceased son had previously attacked her with a knife and choked her, leading her to obtain a protective order against him.

Despite this, she declared her love for her child.